Hi Not sure how cold you get in Perth. The Brachychiton acerifolius will handle a fair amount of cold and frost, much more than a Pawpaw will. My Tamarillos have handles below 0C, but no frost and must be protected from strong wind. There are some beautiful Australia East Coast Rainforest trees that handle cold well and look Tropical. Target Warm Temperate ones or high altitude Sub Tropical. Ivory Curl Flower (Buckhinghamia celsissima), Blue Berry Ash (Elaeocarpis reticulatus), Black Bean (Castanospermum australe) and Riberry (Syzygium luehmannii) are excellent. They also attract birds to your garden (on the east coast at least). There are now a large number of species including a good range of lillypillies (Acmena, Syzygium and Waterhousia) in cultivation. If you can get Syzygium cv cascade grab it. It is a 1.8-2m weeping bush with stunning new growth and watermelon pink shaving brush flowers. The new foliage is very tropical and as the leaves mature they go through hot pinks, red white and then to green. If you have a frost free area, try Costus Barbados. It is an excellent tropical looking plant for places that get to a min of -1C and no frost. Looks fantastic with it's big head of deep red bracts and yellow dayflowers through summer. Also Zingibers can grow well down to Â1C or -2C if protected from strong winter wind. My Zingiber specible cv Champagne is currently in flower and has been through a few -2Cs. Protect when young and you will lose foliage for the first winter or so. The deciduous Zingibers are very hardy if grown with a dry winter. There is also all the Kaempferia, which grow well even in cold areas as long as the ground doesnÂt freeze and stays on the dry side during winter, but note snails love them. Hope this is helpful. By the way I enjoyed your web page. Very well done. Regards Rob H.

If you want to look at natives (and who doesn't) you might consider Diploglottis australis which has large, felty compound leaves and tasty fruit, or castanospermum australe, the Moreton Bay chestnut, which has very colourful flowers. Also consider firewheel (Stenocarpus)or tree waratahs (alloxylon) which have nice big red flowers. Tony

Hi Pyewacket2, As you said, the Waterhousia can grow to be much taller than your preferred 6 metres. The only way to restrict its growth effectively is an annual prune which can be a massive job, not to mention hazardous. The Waterhousia also has a very different habit to the Elaeocarpus eumondii, being wide and weepy compared with the narrower, upright habit of the Elaeocarpus. If you want my advice, always select a plant that fits the size limit rather than limiting the plant. Why fight nature? I'd look at maybe downsizing the Elaeoocarpus to save on cost. Smaller plants will establish faster and often catch up to the super advanced stock within a couple of years. The Eleaocarpus will be well worth the wait. It's a much more attractive tree all round in my opinion. Small to medium trees you may find easier to source are Magnolia 'Little Gem', Elaeocarpus reticulatus (Blueberry Ash) or Cupaniopsis anarchardioides (Tuckeroo). Blueberry ash doesn't perform well when planted in lawns and Tuckeroos can vary a bit in size and growth habit. Sorry, I can't comment on root invasion. All trees pose a risk and can make a liar of you. The best you can do is avoid planting too close to services. I hope this helps. Mark

Wow - this thread has really taken off, hasnt it ? Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions. I am reasonably au fait with most of the suggestions for the feature tree, with the exception of the bottle tree, but plants such as Native Gardenia are something of an unknown. I am also very wary of the impact of the Rocky sun on many rainforest species, even those marked 'full sun' : establishing the microclimate which allows these plants to take full sun is probably better left to species such as acacia and melaleuca. Experience has taught me that there are exceptions, and the Penda in my last garden has gone from strength to strength in the furnace that is our afternoon sun - its currently alive with yellow flowers and is bushy right to its bootstraps. I have recommended the various E. Ficifolia / E. Ptychocarpa hybrids (now Corymbias, I believe) to my friend, but the grafted rootstock seems to constrain them to no more than 5-6 metres, and I believe that I need something more in the 12m plus range to shield the front of the house from the blistering afternoon sun. It also needs to be sufficiently dense at the top to make 'worthwhile' shade, without being a menace to people standing beneath it. Ultimately, it will come down to the stock that Fitzroy Nurseries have in May - most of the other nurseries just dont persist with anything larger than 14" pots. I'll let you know how I get on. Cheers, Artie